China Reportedly Sends Aircraft Carrier Through The Taiwan Strait

Liaoning, China’s sole aircraft carrier, entered the island’s air defence identification zone at 7am yesterday with five other warships.

The Taiwanese government has urged its citizens to remain calm, and said both its own F-16 fighter jets and Japanese military surveillance were closely keeping tabs on the situation.

“I want to emphasize our government has sufficient capability to protect our national security. It’s not necessary to overly panic”, said Taiwanese minister for mainland affairs Chang Hsiao-yueh during a news briefing.

The warships were returning to China after holding drills in the South China Sea.

On Tuesday, a US official said a Chinese bomber flew around the Spratly Islands on the weekend in a show of “strategic force”.

They have “urged Taiwan’s people to be at ease”. Beijing officials consider Taiwan, a democratically governed island off the southern coast of mainland China, a part of China and they get really touchy if anyone says anything that even hints to the contrary. During Tsai’s stop in Nicaragua on Tuesday, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega pledged to fight for more global recognition of Taiwan. “Governor Abbott and President Tsai discussed ways to increase trade relations with Taiwan, particularly in the exchange of natural gas and agricultural products, of which Taiwan is a major consumer”, the press release stated.

China expressed anger at Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen over the weekend, after she made a controversial stopover in the United States, meeting with senior Republican lawmakers in Houston, Texas.

The flurry of activity in the area reflects Beijing’s anger at Taiwan’s efforts to cosy up to the United States, after President Tsai Ing-wen called Mr Trump to congratulate him on his victory.

However, Tsai has stressed that she will maintain the status quo in relations with China and officials told me the call did not represent a policy shift.

J-15 fighters from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier conduct a drill in an area of South China Sea, January 2, 2017.

China is furious at what it considers a breakaway province attempting to further cement warm relations with the USA, which is its main arms supplier and most important ally.

Over the weekend Texas politicians met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen following threats of revenge from China to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

China is suspicious of President Tsai, believing she wants to push for the formal independence of the island.

The Taiwanese defense ministry did not offer an assessment of whether the Liaoning carrier group would stop for exercises in the Taiwan Strait. “Our side feels that ‘one China” should refer to the Republic of China, which was founded in 1912 and has continued to exist to the present; its sovereignty extends to the whole of China, but at present its governing power only extends to Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, Quemoy and Matsu.